16.6.05.55

About this object

A chopstick set consisting of two chopsticks, a knife and a holder, attached to the holder is a tablet woven silk braid in faded red and green, with accents of blue and white. The holder is decorated in shagreen with and bound top and bottom with two silver bands both deeply engraved with flowers and foliage. The knife has a single-edged blade and the handle is made of a pale wood, which has matching engraved metal work .

Curator's note: The museum's annual report notes that, 'The following Chinese objects [including this chopstick set] were obtained in Lhasa.' This suggests that Sgt Heaney bought it in the Lhasa bazaar sometime in August or early September 1904. Written by Emma Martin.

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Events

Start date:
1903End date:
1903Description:
The British Mission to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of southern Tibet by British Indian forces on the pretence of negotiating trade relations between Tibet and British India. However, this was instigated primarily in the hope of preventing the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India. The expedition was led by Colonel (later Sir) Francis Younghusband. It had a damaging effect on the British reputation, many Tibetans were killed and monasteries and houses were looted and/or destroyed along the way. The 13th Dalai Lama feld Lhasa before the arrival of the expedition and Younghusband negotiated, a soon to be repelled, convention with the Tibetan government or Kashag in Lhasa that was signed in the Potala on 7 Septmber 1904.

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